Buying A Defender Could Win Us The Title…

Today I am writing the blog with the help of “Lady WOA” who is talking to me about aliens and monsters and how they are in a film together. Whilst I maintain some sort of interest, I am actually thinking about the defensive crisis that is imminently looming. I’m not one who goes on about needing new signings and I do have a lot of faith in the current squad – but there are certain times when you need to buy to ensure that a crisis doesn’t happen – i.e. if two of your four centre backs are injured and the remaining two are injury prone and inexperienced.

With Nordtveit having left the club despite being our most promising youngster in summer and Miquel being promoted to the fringes of the first team despite never having played for our first team, we’re simply down to the two centre backs that we’ve seen in action for the last three games…

My main worry is that the two we have – although excellent at times – both have an error up their sleeve – we saw a bit of a shaky performance from Djourou in the last game against West Ham and we also saw a bit of a shaky performance from Koscielny against Leeds. Last season, our defensive mistakes were the undoing of us – we lose confidence and lose swagger. If either Djourou or Koscielny get injured or sent off, we have no other option…

Except the option of breaking our formidable midfield trio of Song – Wilshere – Cesc… “WilshCescSong”… doesn’t have the same ring as TheoNasVanCesc… but the last thing we want to see is Song going back into the defence and seeing Denilson come into midfield. Despite being quite pro-Denilson last season, I’ve done a complete u-turn this season and in light of the fact he has been our worst player this season, the thought of NOT having Song in the midfield and having Denilson in there – when it matters – and having Song in defence – doesn’t appeal to me at all!

We all know that we won’t see Squillaci for three weeks or so and we won’t see Vermaelen for the next 6 weeks – if his operations goes well… a big IF…

Vermaelen admitted yesterday that he is going under the knife…

“I’ll undergo this operation in Sweden. According to the specialist who will operate on me it’s a little tendon situated beside the Achilles tendon which is provoking the irritation.”

Arsene also commenting:

“It’s not a real surgery. It is to take out a little [tendon] next to his [Achilles] tendon. It is to open it a little bit and cut out the [tendon] that has been causing the friction. It is a procedure, that is the right medical term. We are very optimistic that [this will cure the problem]. But of course it is now what you call in football a little bit longer delay of four to six weeks.”

So, we have to buy…

Arsene, if you’re reading this, then there is no other option. Unless you honestly think the untried, untested and young Miquel is honestly an option, which I don’t think you do! Don’t live in the dreamland that we can make it through and Thomas Vermaelen will be back and fine soon – he hasn’t played since September!

Well… If I am correct, the gaffer did say that there was a chance that he’d be back in less than a month… er… dream land?

“Let’s count the weeks to Barcelona and you will know. I count a minimum of four weeks, maximum six, so it is not an unrealistic target. But don’t forget as well he is a little bit in the situation of Aaron Ramsey, he has not played since the beginning of September, that means he will need some games to be completely fit.”

But the time is now to buy another centre back!

Squillaci is not good enough at this level, Djourou and Koscielny are good, but they would thrive learning off and playing with someone experienced… Arsene did say if he did buy it would have to be someone with Premiership experience.

Just imagine if we signed Gary Cahill or Phil Jagielka from Bolton or Everton respectively – not the worst touts as signings – but it would send a huge message to our rivals. It would mean that we had backup whilst Vermaelen is out, and a long term replacement for Squillaci and more time to develop the likes of Miquel… Perfect signing, right?

Let’s say signimga worth 15 – 20 mill is unrealisticl; what is realistic for Wenger is not signing at all or signing someone for less than 9 million.

Let’s face it guy, the defenders we need will be for this congested ;anuary; knowinng Wenger he will gamble to see through tHis congested fixture with djourou and Kosien; if he succedes he won’t bye if he doesn’t succed he won’t buy. So knowing Arsene for 14 yrs he won’t buy and guess what folks! Bye bye to the league, FA and CL. Carling is a mathematical certainty.

vj

CB def required, hope ramsey and rosicky play against leeds, arsahvin and chamakh probs get some game time as well. eboue and gibbs as well. Lets rest the the majority of the team. Hope arsene goes for eastmond instead of denilson

sam

yes a defender is needed and also a goalscorer, we dont know is van persy will stay fit till mai.
but knowing wenger, arshavin and bendtner will stick around to make sure we don’t win anything.

Hightech

I dont think cahill/jagielka are good C.BACKS. Just overrated coz they are ENGLAND samba will bring stability and discipline to our title push for as little as £8m

yemi

I think it would be fool hardy of Arsene not to buy a CB knowing that we have the League, FA, Carling and we need these two guys to be fit for Barca. I don’t trust anyplayer coming back from injury to play against barca.

Remember what happened last season against barca (gallas)

Like someone already mentioned also, we NEED a RB. ebuoue is doing a terrible job at covering for sagna.

BergkampBurger

@ yemi:
don’t forget Sagna is suspended against Barcelona too!

devday

@ pisssedoff:
I know you say that a 15m – 20m signing is unrealistic, but it should be realistic. But I don’t think we need to spend that much on a centre back.

Sakho would be a brilliant signing and 15m euros / £12m would get him in. He’s experienced and young – perfect Wenger mould.

Kieran

@ Hightech:
I had the benefit of seeing Cahill pay against York recently in the FA Cup. He’s a fantastic prospect – he’s still young, he’s a born leader and he’s excellent at organising. His marshalling of the Bolton back four was brilliant, he had everything in control. I don’t think the hype is because he’s English, he’s just an excellent player.

Although, English players or players who have been based in England for a long time will obviously demand a greater fee as they would be considered “homegrown” in future squads – all teams will prefer the homegrown option in future as it will leave them with more space for non-homegrown players.

devday

@ vj:
I agree – the state of the pitch would be risky.
Definitely don’t want RvP to play on that pitch.
Djourou either, but will AW play Miquel?

devday

@ Kieran:
Cahill was a good prospect when he went to Bolton – I think it was for £6m. Since then he has come on leaps and bounds – if we paid £10m for Koscielny then I definitely can see Cahill going for £12m +

Gooner Get Ya

AW will not buy until we know we are through to the next round of the cups!!

olutoni

The rumour mill says we are making enquiry on Richard Dunne. I won’t be surprised if Wenger doesn’t get a CB and it will be wrong decision. But let’s hope we get to the final of the only realistic cup (carling)

yemi

@ Gooner Get Ya:
I kinda agree with you, if we fail to qualify for FA and league cup, arsene might not buy since fixtures may be thinner !!!

But

Does that make sense ? Why not buy so you can ensure qualification ?

devday

@ olutoni:
Personally I am not a fan of Dunne whatsoever… definitely dont want him here!

edison

i never really understood why Wenger dished out £10m for Koscielny ? he is good, dont get me wrong, has had some great games and shows great potential in future, but 10 million is a premium price for someone so unestablished.

and then Squillaci ? £8millon, again he certainly hasnt settled well in the english game which is surprising due to his great international experience.

£18millon later and we are still in the same position we were before the summer transfer window.

maybe next season both will be settled and have a blinding 2011/12 campaign, but right now i cant justify their pricetags.

the likes of Phillipe Mexes, Sakho would be brilliant purchases, particularly Cahill.

Berth

I still don’t know what’s spectacular about Cahill – a bit of video clips of him might help here.

Jeffo

Cahill, Sakho, mexes are all intelligent Arsene/Arsenal type players and would fit nicely.

Dunne and Samba are cloggers, I want a CB who can not only win the ball but has a turning circle smaller than oil tanker and can actually pass the ball as well, the only thing Dunne has kicked this year is the opposition up in the air.

Barca will rip Eboue to bits, Arsene will need to put a bungie on his waist to get him back in position to defend.

edison

Whether Wenger signs a new centre half or not, we have to be extremely happy with ourselves that we no longer have to put up with poor defending from the likes of cough cough Mikael Silvestre.

Speaking of Silvestre, and his shoddy defending that got us eliminated from champions league…

Anyone else looking forward to the BARCELONA game? last season we had 9 of our first team out injured, will be interesting to see who can pack the harder punch no we have an almost full selection of first team players.

With all this in mind, Wenger surely must be planning to sign a replacement ? someone who can come straight in to the team and ensure we progress in all three cup competitons

Thierry Bergkamp-Wright

The smart money in my opinion, would be to purchase a technically sound, CB who is able to play DM and adept enough to operate at RB or LB.

With the Barcelona game literally in 28 days time, the thought of Eboue playing RB fills me with trepidation – unless, his defending improves through more 1st team participation.

Thierry Bergkamp-Wright

The smart money, in my opinion, would be to purchase a technically sound, CB who is able to play DM and adept enough to operate at RB or LB.

With the Barcelona game literally in 28 days time, the thought of Eboue playing RB fills me with trepidation – unless, his defending improves through more 1st team participation.

devday

I don’t think Arsene will buy another right back – but if Eboue say for example, was injured for that game and consider we only have two CBs… who would come in? Who is our promising right back in the youth team?

Benoit

We had a promising RB in Kerrea Gilbert but he is gone now. He plays in the MLS in America!
I personally thought that Havard Nordtveit would be really pushing for a place now. I heard he was the next big thing but it never really happened. It appears he became a DM and signed for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga.
Craig Eastmond is still on our books. He has played a few games in midfield but is apparently an RB. I can’t think of anyone else on loan that can be recalled.
I have never been a fan on Eboue but I know that Wenger is. In my opinion – Samba or Mexes and a decent young RB in the summer to replace Manu.

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